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The spirit bear

Spirit Bear mother with her cub, 2014 Photo courtesy of River Road Films

The Spirit BearAdapted from CBC News by Nancy Carson
Level 3

A creature of legend lives
on the central coast of British Columbia.
This is the only place in the world
where it can be found!
This creature is the Kermode Bear.
It is also called the “Spirit Bear” or “Ghost Bear”.

Raven is an important character in First Nations legends.Photo by Tim Ellis/CC, Flickr

Raven and Spirit BearThe Spirit Bear was a legend
of the Gitga’at and Kitasoo Native Peoples.
The legend told of a time when
the world was white with ice and snow.
Raven later made everything green.
He decided that one in ten black bears
would have white fur.
The white bears would remind people
of the time of the glaciers.
Raven said these bears
would live in a special place.
They would live in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Map of Great Bear RainforestPhoto – LivingOceanSociety

Great Bear RainforestThe Great Bear Rainforest is an area
of over 74,000 square kilometres.
The forest runs over 400 square kilometres
down Canada’s western coast.
There are many islands and
mountain peaks covered with glaciers.
Many other animals also live in the forest.
Grizzlies, black bears, wolves, wolverines,
humpback whales and orcas all share
this wild, beautiful area.
The rainforest has been home for centuries
to First Nations like the Gitga’at.

Living in the rainforestIn the early 1990’s, the Turner family
lived for two years in the remote area.
Jeff, Sue Turner and their newborn daughter
made a film about this animal of legend.
Their documentary was calledIslands of the Spirit Bear.The Turners are Canada’s leaders
in the field of documentaries about nature.

Jeff and Sue Turner, filmmakers, with daughter Chelsea in 1993Photo courtesy of River Road Films

Kermode bear factsThe Spirit Bear is also called the Kermode Bear.
Frank Kermode was a director
of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria.
He was one of the first people
to see the white bear.
These bears are omnivores which means
they will eat many different things.
Plants and berries are part of their diets.
But they eat salmon when
the fish are running in the streams.
Fast runners, the bears can reach speeds of 55 kilometres/hour.
Kermode bears can live to be 25 years old.
In British Columbia, it is illegal
to hunt this bear.

Return to the rainforestAlmost 25 years later, the Turners
returned to the area of their first study.
This time, adult daughter Chelsea
and their son Logan are with them.
Jeff Turner says, “our work has truly
become a family affair.”

Early springThe Turner family arrived
in the early spring.
A mother Spirit Bear had
come out of her den.
She had two black cubs.
Cubs are born in their mother’s winter den
in January or February.
Bears can go without food
for up to seven months during hibernation.

A hibernating Kermode Bear under an old tree trunkPhoto by Jethro Taylor/CC, Flickr

The Turners followed the bear family
through the spring and summer.
The mother bear allowed Jeff Turner
to get close to her and her cubs.

Spirit Bear Family“The Spirit Bear is very special to us,”
says filmmaker Jeff Turner.
Chelsea Turner has followed her parents
and become a filmmaker, too.Spirit Bear Family is the Turners’ new film.